This is a subscriber-only article
The recent increases applied to base prices mean that the top-ranked processors paid over 28p/l in September to 1m litre suppliers of average-quality milk. For good-quality milk, the prices are just under 30p/l.
Table B analyses the prices paid at the three different qualities outlined in Table 1 on the opposite page.
Across all processors, the average price paid for good-quality milk was 29.36p/l, a rise of 1.59p/l on August deliveries. It is the highest monthly average since January 2019, when good-quality milk was at 29.83p/l, although that price was partly inflated by winter bonuses.
Outside of the months when winter bonuses normally apply, the September average was the highest for exactly two years.
Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown tops the table for the sixth consecutive month, with a price of 29.8p/l for milk collected on alternate days.
Lakeland Dairies remains in third place on 29.52p/l, maintaining a narrow 0.02p/l gap over fourth-placed Glanbia Cheese, which paid 29.5p/l.
Aurivo retains fifth place, with Dale Farm and Strathroy also unchanged in sixth and seventh positons.
Average quality
On average-quality milk, the price paid across all processors is 28.01p/l for September, up from 26.42p/l from the previous month. There has been little change to league positions from August, with Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown holding first place on 28.43p/l.
For the second month in a row, Glanbia Cheese is placed third, on a price of 28.34p/l, with its 0.65p/l volume bonus and 0.4p/l mozzarella bonus boosting its final price.
Lakeland holds on to fourth spot, with Aurivo overtaking Dale Farm for fifth, while Strathroy rounds out the table.
12-month average
Having topped the 1m litre league tables in eight of the last 12 months, Glanbia Milk continues to dominate the 12-month rolling average league table for 1m litre suppliers (Table C).
For good-quality milk, Glanbia Milk is out in front with a 12-month price of 27.84p/l, a rise of 0.16p/l over the same price last month.
Lakeland Dairies are in third place with a 12-month price of 27.77p/l, followed by Aurivo in fourth place.
Moving to average-quality milk, which is probably the best indicator of farm gate price in NI, Glanbia Milk tops the table on 26.57p/l.
Lakeland is third, with Glanbia Cheese and Aurivo mid-table. At the bottom, Strathroy has closed the gap to Dale Farm, with both in joint sixth on 25.93p/l. The gap from top to bottom has widened out slightly to 0.64p/l.
SHARING OPTIONS: